The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) considers the extradition Rwanda-Mozambique agreement an instrument of political persecution of the opponents of the Kigali Executive and asks the Mozambican Parliament not to ratify it.
in a statement issued yesterday, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), said that the Mozambican Parliament should not ratify the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and the extradition Rwanda-Mozambique agreement.
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) said that “Rwandan citizens who are in the sights of President Paul Kagame’s regime are being persecuted because of their fight for democracy, specifically their diversity of opinions”.
The extradition agreement with Rwanda, if it continues, open doors for Rwanda to enter and “legally” persecute its political opponents in exile in Mozambique.
The CDD said that “these are citizens who fled Rwanda because of political persecution and are living in Mozambique with refugee status, a status recognised by the Mozambican State”.
The NGO understands that the signing of the said understandings is one of the compensations that the Mozambican government pays for Rwanda’s military support in the fight against the armed groups terrorising Cabo Delgado province, north of the country, since October 2017.
“It is easy to see that Rwanda’s military intervention has very high costs, as it implies the partial mortgage of Mozambique’s sovereignty,” the statement said.
For the NGO, the agreements are of greater interest to Rwanda than to Mozambique.
The pacts, approved in a resolution on Tuesday (28.02), by the Mozambican Council of Ministers, were signed last June in Kigali by the ministers of Justice and Constitutional Affairs of each of the countries.
They still have to be ratified by Parliament.
A source from the association of Rwandan residents in Mozambique told Lusa that the association is still waiting for the ratification of the documents by parliament, before issuing a statement.
On several occasions, the Rwandan diaspora in Mozambique has accused the Rwandan secret services of involvement in the disappearance of compatriots in Mozambique, expressing a feeling of fear and insecurity with which it lives.
Lusa
